JUNE 1, 1999:
Learning to read in the Nineties isn't what it
used to be. Back around the turn of this century, when many Americans never made
it past middle school, you didn't have to say "phonics-based reading curriculum"
because that's what reading was. But times have changed, and so have our methods
of learning to read. Ever since the 1930s, educators have relied increasingly on
so-called "whole word" or "whole language" reading methods, which
teach children a holistic combination of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
Eventually, phonics-intensive learning became another tool of a much-idealized age,
gone the way of the manual typewriter and the telegraph.

But while all but the most hopelessly nostalgic agree that the latter two inventions
are relics of a bygone era, many insist that phonics - a memorization-based system
that teaches children to learn phonetic word elements, or phonemes, before moving
on to comprehension - is a tradition that may pull public schools out of their decline,
rather than miring them in the past.

While such assertions might sound quaint to ears inured to frequent calls for
a return to "traditional values" in every area of public and private
life, they have lately earned the attention of at least one prominent proponent:
Gov. George W. Bush. Taught to read by whole word methods himself, the Yale-educated
governor apparently saw the light on phonics some time between 1997 and his 1999
State of the State Address, in which he said he believed children should be educated
"according to the most up-to-date science: phonics."Since then, the governor's
aides have been pushing phonics as the cure to education ills ranging from high dropout
rates to low TAAS scores; Bush's Web site defines a "good" reading program
as one that emphasizes "instruction in phonemic awareness" and "reading
new words [decoding] by blending letter sounds together." Thanks largely to
a Bush-led effort to inject phonics into Texas' reading curriculum, the state spent
$29 million on phonics programs between 1995 and 1999.

Although a few Democrats, including San Antonio Rep. John Longoria, have leaped
enthusiastically onto the governor's phonics platform, Bush's most consistent support
has come from the religious right, whose members have frequently questioned the governor's
commitment to conservative values. Back in 1997, Bush came under fire for supporting
the controversial Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) curriculum, which conservative
members of the State Board of Education said failed to sufficiently emphasize phonics
and traditional educational standards. At the time, Bush said an alternative document,
which contained a phonics-based reading curriculum, was "overly prescriptive"
for a state that prided itself on local control.

Today, the nation's most famous noncandidate is singing a different tune. It isn't
difficult to fathom why: Bush's "compassionate conservatism" has been dismissed
by Christian conservative groups like the Eagle Forum as lacking teeth, and phonics
provides a definitive - but relatively uncontroversial - bite to supplement the governor's
unconvincing bark.

Phonics is lauded by conservatives because it emphasizes rote memorization, requires
students to rely on teachers rather than learning independently, and (since it focuses
on word sounds, not context) precludes the use of literature almost entirely, excising
the potential for unsavory literary influences from primary and secondary curriculum.
(Many phonics-taught home schoolers are exposed only to Christian literature and
the Bible.)

Phonics proponents point out that the system has a record of success in Texas,
including at Houston's Wesley Elementary, where students in the 99% minority, 79%
low-income school, who learn reading and spelling from a phonics-based curriculum,
have regularly outscored students at richer, whiter schools on standardized tests
using a phonics-based reading and spelling curriculum. (Critics of Wesley charge
that its reading program, which requires students to drill to perfection, asks too
much of students and teachers, is excessively authoritarian, and emphasizes learning
the tests, rather than learning to read.)

Koeltzow, who carries in his briefcase a full collection of phonics-based readers
from the 1920s, says phonics is the only method which currently meets that standard.
"In 1929 [before phonics was generally replaced with whole-word, or literature-based,
reading methods], 98% of white kids and 80% of black kids were literate on grade
level," Koeltzow says. "There was absolutely no reason to leave that concept
from an educational point of view."

But others say the jury is still out on whether reading methods, or other factors,
are to blame for students' declining reading scores. Ellen Brinkley, a professor
at Western Michigan University who teaches reading and writing classroom methods
to current and prospective teachers, says that even the most diehard whole word or
whole language proponent agrees that it's impossible to learn to read without some
understanding of phonics. The same, she says, goes for most phonics proponents. It's
only those who promote phonics above every other method, to the extent that they
exclude literature from early reading curricula, who worry Brinkley and other whole
language proponents. "There is a definite tendency toward a kind of literal
understanding of texts that has religious roots," Brinkley says. "Some
parents seem to have a really literal understanding of reading that comes from the
way they interpret the reading of the Bible. So if ... the Bible says women shouldn't
wear pearls, they just lift that out and say for all time, literally, women should
not wear pearls. People who have that mindset tend to pick out particular things
in reading samples ... to censor."

But while this argument rages in educational circles, the political debate has
really been more about political posturing than pragmatic regulation. No legislation
mandating phonics has ever made it out of the House or Senate, and Gov. Bush - for
all his stated support of phonics methods - has never actively pushed for such a
bill. In most ways, the governor's task in promoting phonics is ceremonial; an easy
way to promote a "return to traditional values" without pushing too hard
at a hot-button issue. Like his stands on many issues, Bush's phonics promotion is
mostly bluster, and very little fight.